245. East, Cheonseon Academy (10)
“Stop the monsters!”
A loud shout echoes through the forest.
I looked around as I climbed the mountain.
The number of monsters was not very large.
“It must be much further ahead. They’re definitely reducing numbers there.”
At this, Eisel let out a confident voice and ran forward.
“……”
Me and Yuri, who agreed with Eisel’s opinion, looked at each other, nodded, and immediately followed Eisel.
Jetto wasn’t around here, at least.
I couldn’t even feel his nerves.
“I thought that dangerous things wouldn’t happen at the academy…”
Shortly after, Yuri, who was running away kicking her legs, couldn’t tie her hair properly and bit her teeth in her complacency.
“It’s still not clear that Cadet Zeto is ahead of us, though. You may have been spending your time elsewhere and haven’t heard from us yet.”
I took her words out of her mind and rebuked her. For some reason, I feel like that’s the way it should be.
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“……”
But I was well aware of it.
Zetto will be in front of you.
I thought I knew him well by now.
I thought I could predict what he would do in the future.
But I never thought about the reason.
I didn’t want to think about it.
I was just taking it for granted, intoxicated with the kindness and kindness that had been ingrained in his body.
Why is he desperately trying to save and protect everyone?
Could he be able to do that simply because he has a good heart, sacrificing himself and eating away at his body?
Most people can think.
I have to protect everyone.
I have to save someone important from getting hurt.
However, being able to do something without hesitation despite knowing what sacrifices would follow was a big difference from simply thinking about it.
‘How did Jeto get the terrible disease of trying to shoulder everything alone?’
I couldn’t answer Eisel’s question.
I wondered if the promise between ‘Baek Do-hwa’ and ‘Baek Cheon-gyeol’ was the cause.
Perhaps my previous life, Baek Do-hwa, was trying to save Baek Cheon-gyeol.
Knowing that he would be in danger, he died fighting to protect him.
Baekcheongyeol promised me.
I promise to never let this happen again.
So he asked if I would forgive him.
Then does Zeto have memories of his previous life?
I don’t think so.
I should have hoped otherwise.
“It looks like it’s here.”
Eisel, who was going ahead, stopped his legs.
“How many of them alone…”
Yuri looked around and frowned.
The corpses of the beast that had been cut here and there were scattered all over the forest.
The stench wafting from the corpse, which was thick in the forest like morning mist, made my head pound.
“Kaen, can’t you feel it?”
Aisel, who was examining the corpse of the beast that had been cut cleanly, asked.
“…Nothing really bothers me.”
“The situation is not good. At this rate, even Jetto would have been overdoing it. Let’s scatter and find them. Follow these bodies and you will find them. I’ll go this way.”
“Then I will go this way.”
Yuri pointed in the opposite direction of Eisel.
There were so many corpses of ghosts that they overflowed and stretched out in all directions.
“The seeker will send a signal to the sky and have them come down the mountain. It seems that there are still many monsters nearby, so everyone be careful.”
“It’s a signal…”
“Wait, it’s me or Eisel, but how does Kaen send a signal?”
“…Is black enough?”
“Kaen, could you handle swordsmanship? No. First of all, finding Jeto is the priority. I get it.”
“…”
I nodded lightly.
He was able to handle not only sword skills, but also sword skills, albeit shallowly. I just haven’t had a chance to show it off.
After that, Yuri and Eisel moved in the direction they decided on, and I also moved forward in the other direction.
As we went deeper along the mountain road, the surroundings became so quiet that we could not hear the cries of the beasts.
According to the explanation of Dangsa Hye, whom she met while looking for Jeto, there are more dangerous monsters lurking the closer she gets to the top of the mountain, she said.
It was around the middle of the mountain like that.
‘The warmth still remains. That means…’
The moment I was examining the dismembered corpse of a demon impaled on a wooden pole.
ㅡsssss…
From far away, I heard the sound of something huge approaching me at high speed.
It wasn’t the dull running sound of a beast with feet, much less the sound of human footsteps.
ㅡsssss!!!
My whole body froze as soon as my eyes met the ‘it’ that was beginning to appear on the other side.
“Snake…?”
The red eyes of a white snake that was huge enough to swallow a house with ease were glaring at me.
He lunged at me with his mouth wide open.
That fleeting moment when my body couldn’t budge from the dark life.
“Miss Kaen!!”
I heard Zeto’s voice.
ㅡTeouk!
Just before the white snake engulfed me, Jetto picked me up and threw me to the side.
ㅡQuad Deuk!!!!
The snake’s body, which had gained speed, came out and passed Jeto.
I then rolled on the floor with Jeto, who was hugging me tightly.
“…Kuh.”
“My, Cadet Zeto… The blood…”
I put my trembling hand on Jeto’s cheek.
My whole body was covered in scars.
Looking at the blood flowing from his mouth, it was clear that he was overdoing it.
Instantly, he grabs my hand that was brushing my cheek.
“Let’s avoid the seat for now.”
“What is that snake…?”
“That guy is the leader of the monsters. We can’t compete with him now.”
The snake was as long as its huge body, so its head didn’t come right back to this place.
We must leave before he finds us again, said Jetto.
We managed to get away from him and hid behind a wooden pole for a while.
Soon, Jeto, who was standing behind me and hugging me, started talking to me.
“Haa… I think I succeeded in getting rid of him for a while. He’s called Blood Sea King, but I’m a bit picky about whether he has good senses. He also notices emotions.”
“Ah…”
That was the reason Jeto’s feelings didn’t reach me.
He had been being chased by him for a long time.
“By the way Miss Kaen happened to be here… Ah, so you came looking for me?”
“Of course. I guessed where he would have gone if he disappeared in this chaos. More than that…”
“…Yes.”
As he paused, Jeto tilted his head.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Yeah… It’s dangerous.”
“Wasn’t I a trustworthy colleague…?”
“Ms. Kaen is definitely strong. Aisel and Yuri are also strong. Besides, Amon and Orpheel are also strong.”
“But why…”
“It’s purely my greed. If someone gets hurt because of my mistake… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.”
“Forgive me…”
I recalled Zeto’s words in a small way.
When I said forgiveness, I remembered the dream I had today.
Did Baek Do-hwa forgive Baek Cheon-gyeol?
Because Baek Do-Hwa, who appeared in the dream, was unable to speak out right before her death, Baek Chun-gyeol could not hear the answer in the end.
After that, Baek Cheon-gyeol must have collapsed and died full of regrets and regrets.
“……”
I looked at the Baekdohwa sword in his hand.
It is unclear whether it was a coincidence that I was able to hold this sword, or whether Baek Do-hwa and Baek Chun-gyeol were me and Zeto’s previous lives.
That didn’t matter.
“…Forgive me.”
The moment I felt Jeto’s rough breathing, I muttered a little.
“…Yes?”
“I don’t intend to blame my cadet if I get hurt. So even if my cadet can’t forgive myself, I forgive my cadet.”
I had to convey what I couldn’t convey.
“It must have been because I wanted to protect my cadet.”
It was a word with multiple meanings.
It didn’t matter if Baek Chun-gyeol was correct in his previous life or whether he remembered his previous life.
I just had to tell you.
I thought so.
“……”
Soon, Jeto calmly catches his breath and is lost in thought.
I grabbed his warm right hand and brought it to my cheek. His fingers brush the hairs on my cheeks.
“Yes. Jeto Cadet saved it. Thanks to that, no one was hurt. But I… We couldn’t protect Jeto Cadet.”
“I’m fine…”
“Do you think you can just move on if you say it’s okay every time? Look at yourself now. Are you really okay?”
I cut Jetto off and turned around to stare at him.
I was angry for no reason.
As if he had once been angry with someone who acted similarly to him.
ㅡ Imprisoned.
I hugged his exhausted body tightly.
“Please give me a chance to protect someone dear to me. Please…”
“…I’m sorry. I think I’ve been too selfish.”
“”……””
There was a moment of silence as they shared warmth. In the middle of a quiet forest, only my sniffles, tears welling up for no reason, could be heard.
“…”
Jetto suddenly closed his mouth and put a finger in his mouth.
ㅡsssss…
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Soon, the creepy sound of the snake’s body crawling across the floor was heard.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like they found us.
I held my breath and waited for him to pass, but before long I heard someone walking towards this place.
It was the footsteps of an unknown stranger.
Then the sound of the snake opening its jaws is heard.
I moved his body, wondering if he had to save someone, but for some reason, Jeto wouldn’t let go of me while holding onto my body tightly.
“You’re late.”
Soon, a voice suddenly leaked from the snake’s mouth.
‘Could you speak?’
It was a voice so cracked that it gave goosebumps all over your body just by hearing it, and you couldn’t tell whether it was a man or a woman.
“Tsk, it was hard to arrive late.”
The man approaching the snake clicked his tongue in annoyance.
But it was a voice I had heard somewhere.
‘Where did you hear that…’
We wanted to stick our faces out through the wooden beams to check our appearance, but if we did, there was a high chance that we would be found out.
Even if it wasn’t so, I was able to find out his identity through the conversation between the two.
“Gwanju, isn’t it your fault? That blind man slaughtered all my lovely children. I’ve never heard of such a guy.”
“…So you did it yourself?”
“I had to kill him. He was waiting. As if he knew this was going to happen. I wonder if your plan was leaked in the first place.”
“Did he kill you?”
The referee asked in a plaintive voice.
“That’s such a ratty bastard… Give me a little more time.”
“No, go back today. If the instructors from the academy come forward, even you won’t be able to save your life.”
“Damn it!!!”
I’m bloody at Gwanju’s answer. The king spits out his anger and strokes his tail.
ㅡ Wedge!!
ㅡQuaang!!!
All the trees in the area that were hit by his tail fell down.
“……”
The tree that Zeto and I were hiding in was also crushed by its tail, but Zeto quickly pulled me down and managed to escape.
“Enough with that. I’ll find out about the blind.”
“You must… You must deal with it.”
In an instant, the murderous spirits scattered by the King of Blood reached me.
ㅡSeureung.
However, his body reacted to the vitality, and he slightly pulled out the sword he was holding.
“Who is the crab?”
The official who heard the sound asked and strode toward this place.
‘What should I do? What do we do…?’
The time when my hair turned white because of a mistake.
“Haa…”
Jetto let out a light sigh and grabbed my body tightly.
Instantly, the shadows seen below gradually grew larger, and Jeto and I, who were sitting on the floor, began to descend.
‘What is this…?’
Zetto and I were going underground.
I was very embarrassed, but I didn’t make a sound.
I couldn’t make two mistakes.
My whole body was completely immersed in the shadow of a potato with my eyes closed.
I opened my eyes because my feet were strangely touching.
When I opened my eyes, everything around me was filled with pitch black darkness.
It was dark and I couldn’t see anything.
Immediately, someone grabbed my shoulder.
“Uh, Cadet Zeto…”
There was Jeto.
What’s even more strange is that there was no light around him, but he could be seen clearly.
“Is this…?”
“…Should we say in the shadows?”
“Shadow…?!”
“I’ll tell you more later. It’s a secret to everyone else.”
“Secret… Oh, I’m sorry. Because of me…”
“No. I just didn’t want to get caught. More than that, that voice… It was a reference to the school, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, why is the crossword with Yosu…”
“Hmm… I never thought there would be a story like this.”
“What was the purpose of cross-references?”
“From now on, we need to find out ‘together’.”
“Together?”
“You said you wanted a chance to protect me?”
Jetto tilted his head and smiled.
“…Wow.”
As I looked at his smile, the corners of my mouth naturally went up.
For some reason, seeing his smile in my eyes even in an urgent situation where I didn’t know where the future would go, made my heart feel much more comfortable.
***
Meanwhile, in the forest outside the shadows, the governor who sensed the presence was looking down at the wooden pole where Jeto and Kaen were.
“…Nothing.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t forgotten the promise you made with me, right?”
“I’ll take care of it myself. You bastard stay quietly in the mountains for a while.”
“Be sure to bring me the head of the blind man. We’ll talk about it later.”
Soon the bloody king moved his elongated body and headed for his nest.
“A mere serpent…”
Looking at the back of the King of Blood, Gwanju, whose eyebrows twitched, murmured softly.
He looked down at the seat where Jeto and Kaen were once again and continued muttering.
“Did you say Jeto? It’s not easy to mess with an academy cadet… Tsk, things got entangled.”